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Isn't that exactly what AuDA is trying to address with their current promotion?

Depending on your business, a shorter, more specific and perhaps more generic net.au could be better than a longer, less specific com.au. E.g. joesplumbing.net.au is IMO much better than joesmithplumbingsydney.com.au.

Of course, you may get people that accidentally go for the com.au version, as you would for people going to com instead of com.au. But, in practical terms, it's shorter, easier to relay (e.g. over the phone), less prone to typing errors, etc. And the more people that register and promote net.au domains, the more the general public will take notice of the extension, instead of assuming it's com.au.

AuDA should have started their campaign with this message, then further encouraged uptake of net.au domains by dropping the price (if that was even necessary). All the current campaign has done is caused people to ask "are net.au domains really that crap?"

I only had two in my portfolio previously, one for brand protection for a client, and the other because it was a very good short, relevant keyword that I will never sell for less than quadruple digits.

I have always been of the understanding that the .net TLD was aimed at internet service providers etc as already discussed, and I also agree that this is quite unnecessary now and I've changed my tune a little on the .net.au domains but much education and pimping of .net.au will need to be done to raise it's value.

On Paper, AuDA will tout this promotion as a huge win, but in 25 months time we will see as thousands drop.

On Paper, AuDA will tout this promotion as a huge win, but in 25 months time we will see as thousands drop.

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I think that depends on what AuDA does in the meantime

I agree it will take a considerable effort, but, if they manage to get the 'extension question' to stick in the mind of the general public ("was that .com.au or .net.au?") then the people who are taking advantage of this promotion could be the winners, if only by selling their net.au to the com.au registrants in a year's time!

AuDA should have tried re-educating the masses before dropping the price, IMO. It would have encouraged businesses to register net.au to protect their existing com.au domains, and encouraged people to look at the net.au space with more appreciation generally, resulting in an increase of registrations. They may not have needed to drop the price at all!

I think that depends on what
AuDA should have tried re-educating the masses before dropping the price, IMO. It would have encouraged businesses to register net.au to protect their existing com.au domains, and encouraged people to look at the net.au space with more appreciation generally, resulting in an increase of registrations. They may not have needed to drop the price at all!

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This, but - who knows, there could be a plan.

I may have made a few sneaky .net.au purchases for my portfolio over the weekend

I don't normally purchase domains just for the heck of it, I don't consider myself to be a domainer as such - so I wasn't really convinced that I needed to register any until I had a really good think about this and sleep on it, and a solid strategy for what I could even do with the domains.

Isn't that exactly what AuDA is trying to address with their current promotion?

Depending on your business, a shorter, more specific and perhaps more generic net.au could be better than a longer, less specific com.au. E.g. joesplumbing.net.au is IMO much better than joesmithplumbingsydney.com.au.

Of course, you may get people that accidentally go for the com.au version, as you would for people going to com instead of com.au. But, in practical terms, it's shorter, easier to relay (e.g. over the phone), less prone to typing errors, etc. And the more people that register and promote net.au domains, the more the general public will take notice of the extension, instead of assuming it's com.au.

AuDA should have started their campaign with this message, then further encouraged uptake of net.au domains by dropping the price (if that was even necessary). All the current campaign has done is caused people to ask "are net.au domains really that crap?"

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If AUDA are promoting .net.au to try and improve its uptake that is a waste of money, they might as well be spending it on .id.au or whatever other half baked extensions they have that nobody wants.

Reminds me of an old lady I saw at a local market a few years ago, she was baking two types of cup cakes, vanilla and chocolate. I told here I'd take a dozen chocolate, she told me she had only six left, but lots of vanilla.

"You have yo be early if you want the chocolate, but the vanilla, they never sell out".

She explained how she makes a batch of each type every month.

I was thinking to myself,

"What on earth are you doing? spending half your time baking stuff that nobody wants and not making enough of what everyone does want".

All the budget spent promoting .net.au should be going to what people want, .com.au.

I agree it will take a considerable effort, but, if they manage to get the 'extension question' to stick in the mind of the general public ("was that .com.au or .net.au?") then the people who are taking advantage of this promotion could be the winners, if only by selling their net.au to the com.au registrants in a year's time!

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It doesn't matter how much effort is put in, it is pretty apparent to most people what extension they need and what .au type almost all Australian businesses use.

AuDA should have tried re-educating the masses before dropping the price, IMO. It would have encouraged businesses to register net.au to protect their existing com.au domains, and encouraged people to look at the net.au space with more appreciation generally, resulting in an increase of registrations. They may not have needed to drop the price at all!

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There is no re-educating the masses. Whatever the masses think....is right. If they think LCD is better with Plasma you better start selling LCD.

If AUDA are promoting .net.au to try and improve its uptake that is a waste of money, they might as well be spending it on .id.au or whatever other half baked extensions they have that nobody wants.

Reminds me of an old lady I saw at a local market a few years ago, she was baking two types of cup cakes, vanilla and chocolate. I told here I'd take a dozen chocolate, she told me she had only six left, but lots of vanilla.

"You have yo be early if you want the chocolate, but the vanilla, they never sell out".

She explained how she makes a batch of each type every month.

I was thinking to myself,

"What on earth are you doing? spending half your time baking stuff that nobody wants and not making enough of what everyone does want".

All the budget spent promoting .net.au should be going to what people want, .com.au.

Click to expand...

How do you propose auDA could spend money to create more desirable com.au domain names?

In terms of your analogy, if the old lady can only source enough ingredients to make a dozen chocolate cupcakes, but she can also source ingredients to make a dozen of the less popular vanilla, shouldn't she make both? Maybe the vanilla are much more profitable? Maybe she makes as much money from the three vanilla cupcakes she sells as she does from the dozen chocolate. Who knows?!

You're assuming she has access to more chocolate and that she's not benefiting at all from offering vanilla as an alternative.

Desirable com.au names are not cake ingredients - they are a limited resource; adding the net.au space effectively doubles the availability of desirable names. All that's different between the two is your (and most peoples') perception, which is what auDA should attempt to change. I totally accept the problems with branding and the confusion of having two different websites using the same name on two different 2LDs, but, functionally, the two 2LDs are identical.